I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

"I tried my best!"

However, this state of confidence only lasted for ten minutes.

"...Actually, I think even if I don't improve in the exam, my parents would still agree."

This was Lin Mu's self-consolation as he lay sprawled on the table, looking utterly hopeless.

"if not?"

Chen Junqian reached out and took the glass bottle filled with little stars and origami cranes that he had received from Lin Mu two years ago, and waved it in front of her:

"Didn't you already know when you gave this to them? If you have any wishes in front of them, just say them directly. You don't need to wait until your birthday, New Year, or exam results, and you don't need to fold a thousand origami cranes."

Yes, it is.

Lin Mu smiled with satisfaction.

"I think Qianqian treats me the same way."

"What's said may not be true."

Although Chen Junqian tapped the tip of Lin Mu's nose with the bottom of a glass bottle, Lin Mu still wore a smug expression.

She wondered if it was just her imagination, but in the reflection of the sunlight streaming into the room from outside the window, she always had a vague feeling that there were some blurry words on the glass bottle she had given to the other person.

Chapter Sixteen: I Want to Praise (Part Two)

Before the summer of 2011 arrived, Chen Junqian chose to register a personal account on Bilibili, which was just emerging at the time.

However, this doesn't mean he suddenly had the idea of ​​becoming a video creator; he simply wanted to find a more suitable platform to talk to people about topics he couldn't discuss with anyone in real life.

As a newcomer and mysterious anime enthusiast who has been steadily following and catching up on anime since January 2010, Chen Junqian's anime watchlist has long since expanded from romance anime to include any work that he finds appealing in the current season.

But just as Zhu Wenyun, who had read many books but had no one to confide in, wrote in this essay competition, reading and watching a work does indeed create a desire to share and communicate with others who have also read it, especially for excellent works.

However, Chen Junqian clearly couldn't find anyone like that around him.

He could chat with Xu Youwei, who had stopped watching cartoons at some point, about the second standalone book of Charlie IX, "The Terrifying Witch Mask," which was just published the month before last. He could also listen to Zhu Wenyun, who had only ever watched various family dramas with her grandmother on TV since she was a child, instead of cartoons, complain about "The Temptation to Go Home," which just aired this February.

Lin Mu still follows the trend and watches popular anime and cartoons for girls. He expects to have a long talk with Zhong Yu when "Sweet Princess" airs in a few months. Zhong Yu talks to him mostly about "Super Beast Force", "Dragon Warrior" and "Armor Hero Xingtian", which just started airing this year. Chen Xi is currently engrossed in another rare historical animation, "Qin Han Heroes", and uses it as an opportunity to learn about that period of time.

Chen Junqian certainly didn't dislike these works, and he never thought that watching them was too childish or outdated. After all, in his previous life, he had also enjoyed watching all of these works once or even several times, and he was always happy when chatting with them.

But something was always missing.

Of course, he also wanted to talk to people about his experience watching "Puella Magi Madoka Magica," which aired in January of this year and still leaves a deep impression on him; he wanted to discuss "Steins;Gate," a half-year anime that aired in April of this year and is still ongoing but already exudes the aura of a masterpiece; and he wanted to share his joy at seeing the second season of "Baka and Test" air again in July of this year.

Whether it's the imagination and wonder of "Nichijou" or the insert song in the ending theme of "Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day," or even just someone listening to him fiercely criticize "Infinite Stratos," which contributed a lot to the system's list of idiotic achievements, would be fine.

Unfortunately, the system that was best at discussing these topics with Chen Junqian had been dormant for a long time. If it weren't for the occasional achievement trigger, Chen Junqian would probably think it had gone back to some kind of Time and Space Administration to report for duty.

However, Chen Junqian couldn't simply imitate the mysterious social media posts of his relatives' children that he had seen before his rebirth on his own QQ space, creating a post like "My CN (nickname) is xxx, my profile picture is custom-made, I'm doing xxx, I'm promoting xxx, and I'm wary of xxxx," and then list a whole bunch of things that were just slang within his small circle, like reciting a menu.

However, he would never randomly grab someone in class and ask, "Have you seen xxxx?" That would be like some kind of strange salesman.

It's more like just thinking about it makes me feel embarrassed; I feel like I could dig a whole three-bedroom apartment out of the ground with my toes.

That's why Chen Junqian chose to turn his attention to the internet once again. After all, there are far more people online than in real life, and even in the smallest circles, you might meet like-minded people.

Anyway, Chen Junqian didn't really intend to become a famous blogger or video column creator. At most, he would just be active in the comment sections of various videos, and then use it as a social platform like QQ Space to share his feelings and experiences when watching, catching up on, or following anime, and occasionally do some summarizing and organizing of new anime information.

After all, he has been given superhuman learning abilities by the system. Compared to his past state of eagerly waiting for the translation group to update, Chen Junqian has now started to try to learn some Japanese-related knowledge himself. After all, compared to the various translated resources, the raw (untranslated) content is still the easiest to find on the Internet. Sometimes you have to force yourself to read it.

So, out of personal interest, Chen Junqian simply translated the latest trailer PV for the October anime "Haganai," a film that seemed like a stereotypical romantic comedy and probably occupied several entries in his list of unreleased achievements—a film that was directly copied from a Japanese website by someone else—and casually added the prefix "[Personal Amateur Translation]" before posting it. Then, he prepared to log out of his personal account.

After all, Lin Mu often came to his house to play computer games with him, so he really needed to keep his rather niche hobby a secret.

To Chen Junqian's surprise, shortly after he posted his comment, someone left a smiley face and a simple "thank you" below it, and he also got an extra like.

Of course, Chen Junqian was already used to such comments as "May the poster live a long and peaceful life" that appeared frequently. After casually glancing at them, he closed the webpage, logged out of his personal account, stood up from the computer, and stretched.

Although he wasn't a big fan of anime and manga in his previous life and didn't have any knowledge about it, as an outsider, Chen Junqian still remembered a few works that would become popular starting next year.

By then, I'll be a junior high school student.

Maybe I'll have the chance to meet someone who shares my interests and can talk about these topics with me?

With this wish in mind, Chen Junqian returned to his room.

Since his father went to work in Tangshan, he has been spending significantly more time alone at home. After all, his mother is busy playing mahjong and doesn't care about anything else. In her words, he is someone she can trust completely, so he can be home alone all the time.

Just as Chen Junqian returned to his room and lay on his bed, preparing to take a comfortable afternoon nap this weekend, his phone, which was under his pillow, suddenly rang. When he picked it up, he saw that it was a text message from Zhu Wenyun.

The content is very simple, just one sentence:

I won an award for my essay.

----------------------------------

For Zhu Wenyun and Chen Junqian, this was undoubtedly even more exciting news than the upcoming summer vacation.

Of course, for Chen Junqian, the homeroom teacher who teaches both Class 3 and Class 4, and for the school itself, having a student win first prize in a provincial essay competition is a highly prestigious honor and an excellent opportunity for publicity.

Moreover, Zhu Wenyun herself possesses many qualities and strengths that school leaders feel are worth exploring and promoting.

The left-behind children who live with their grandmothers still persist in reading and writing despite the hardships of life. Their articles have not only been published, but they also received commendation from the city last year. This time, they won first prize in the provincial essay competition. By combining these achievements, a perfect news article is already halfway done.

It can only be said that this time it is different from the last stampede incident. Without Chen Junqian to help share the pressure, Zhu Wenyun is the only one who is in the spotlight. Faced with the school's determination to report and publicize the incident, Zhu Wenyun agreed readily this time, which even surprised Chen Junqian.

However, just like the mysterious monologue in his current phone ringtone, "Because seeing you makes me feel safe," Zhu Wenyun still invited Chen Junqian along on the day he was interviewed by city reporters.

"I thought you would make excuses again this time."

"Because it feels like it's not a good thing to always make excuses, and besides, Grandma and you will be happier if you do it this way."

"Why do I have to do this?"

"Because I feel that Junqian wants to see me like this, doesn't he?"

After saying this with a smile, Zhu Wenyun responded to the photographer's call and picked up the certificate and prizes placed to the side to prepare for the photo.

Of course, although Zhu Wenyun said it so casually, Chen Junqian knew very well that she was actually not very good at facing the camera, otherwise he wouldn't have specifically called him over today.

So when the other person stood up and stood in the photography area holding the certificate and prize facing the camera, Chen Junqian also moved to that area at the same time, and together with her and the photographer, he held up both hands in front of his eyes and made a photo-taking gesture.

"Three, two, one, eggplant—good, very good."

The photographer was also quite satisfied with the natural expressions Zhu Wenyun displayed in front of the camera, and then called over the reporter in charge of the interview to prepare for the formal start of today's interview.

However, before the formal interview, the female reporter from the city television station was clearly very interested in Chen Junqian, who had come with Zhu Wenyun that day, and even asked a question with a smile:

"So what is your relationship? Of course, this part won't be included in the press release."

"He is my writing teacher and best friend."

Faced with the reporter's somewhat teasing question, Zhu Wenyun answered quite seriously, even formally.

"Is that really all? Don't worry, this part won't be aired."

Seeing the reporter suddenly start gossiping about elementary school students, Chen Junqian could only raise his hand helplessly and say:

"...Sis, you interviewed me last year during the stampede, so we're old acquaintances. Let's not ask any more questions and get started."

"You're being a little shy, aren't you? You were acting like a little adult in front of me last year. But come to think of it, weren't you two the ones who were commended for that stampede incident last year?"

"That's right, but this time only Wen Yun won the award, so please don't bring up the issue with me anymore."

After a few lighthearted banter, the interview finally began formally. Chen Junqian, who was not involved, also stepped out of the camera's view and began to stand by and watch.

Although it was called an interview, it was actually aimed at elementary school students, so the questions prepared by the TV station were quite simple. While they weren't as extreme as "What do you do for a living, sir?" or "Did you manage to buy a ticket home this year?", they were mostly ordinary questions like "How did you cultivate your interest in reading?", "What is your favorite book?", and "What book would you recommend to children your age?"

But just when the reporters finally stopped gossiping, Zhu Wenyun's side started stirring up trouble again:

"Does Wenyun want to continue developing and working hard in this direction in the future to become a real writer?"

"Yes, I will, because reading and writing are very enjoyable things for me, and I promised Chen Junqian that I would write stories for him in the future."

To be honest, when Chen Junqian heard this answer, he really wanted to complain that he was being portrayed as some kind of unscrupulous capitalist, and that it sounded like he was talking about something that would last a lifetime.

I don't know if the TV station will cut or revise this segment.

After all, he had already become famous twice in Guoning. Last year, after the pecan festival, someone posted on the local forum asking if the missing child named Chen Junqian had been found.

Fortunately, nobody watches the local TV stations anyway; Chen Junqian himself has never watched them.

Just then, Zhu Wenyun also finished her interview. As the reporter finished speaking, "We also hope that Zhu Wenyun can realize her dreams in the future," Zhu Wenyun collapsed there, looking exhausted. It seemed she still had a long way to go.

After all, if she really becomes a bestselling author in the future, this kind of thing will definitely be inevitable.

That said, if we follow the gimmicks of Japanese romantic comedies, could Zhu Wenyun later also be given the title of a bestselling light novel (not a light novel) author featuring a beautiful high school girl?

"I'm so tired, I can't get up anymore."

Seeing Zhu Wenyun sitting there as if she wouldn't get up unless he pulled her up, Chen Junqian had no choice but to reach out and pull her up. Then she took the opportunity to hug him and rest her head on his shoulder.

It wasn't her parents, nor her grandmother; Zhu Wenyun was simply giving him the first person she could ever be affectionate with since she could remember:

"Praise me."

As if afraid he hadn't heard her clearly, she leaned closer and repeated it even more quietly:

"...Praise me, please."

Chapter Seventeen: An Achievement Unmatched by One Person (Part Two)

To be honest, when Zhu Wenyun hugged him and said those words, the first image that popped into Chen Junqian's mind was actually him patting the other person's head and saying some strange, stereotypical lines like "So good, so good" or "XX has already tried so hard."

Shaking his head to quickly forget these useless anime techniques that could never be applied to real life, Chen Junqian subtly refreshed his achievements, noting that this was his first time giving Zhu Wenyun a head pat, while carefully choosing his words before speaking:

"Wen Yun's writing is truly impressive. From the initial approach to the paragraph quotations in the middle section to the final intellectual climax, it is basically a perfect argumentative essay with a strong beginning, a substantial middle, and a powerful ending. Moreover, it also reveals Wen Yun's unique writing style and extensive reading experience. Winning the first prize is well-deserved."

"Even if you didn't know Wenyun before, just by reading this award-winning essay, you can easily feel the author's talent from the brilliance of the words. Just like the judge's comment, 'A person with a wealth of knowledge naturally exudes elegance,' Wenyun is the most talented girl I have ever met when it comes to writing."

"Uh-huh!"

He was completely in a "please praise me more, I love to hear it" mood. At this moment, Chen Junqian, who was being held by Zhu Wenyun, even felt that the person in front of him was some kind of clingy large dog. However, instead of licking his face, it was the other person's nose and cheek that were licking him. It was a complete nuzzling and rubbing against him.

"Alright, the reporters haven't left yet. Let me treat you to a meal first, and we can continue our conversation there, okay?"

After finally managing to push Zhu Wenyun away temporarily, Chen Junqian turned around and saw the reporter standing near the door smiling at him with a gossipy expression before closing the door and leaving.

"Speaking of which, what kind of prize is it?"